The Webster baronetcy was created on 21 May 1703 and became extinct in 1923
when there were only two daughters, Lucy and
Evelyn, who could not succeed.
There was a man who was calling himself Sir Godfrey Webster. According to
someone at the East Sussex Record Office, he was the son of Evelyn and her
husband, Charles Robert Harbord. Evelyn changed her name back to Webster and so Godfrey may
have legally be
a Webster but not a baronet. *He
lived in the Brazilian jungle and was reputed
to be "as eccentric as most of his ancestors". [The Websters were
famed for their eccentricity.]

See Daily Telegraph for
obituary on *Godfrey
Webster Harbord who died aged 75 on 22 July 2003.

At a distance, the Webster baronets certainly appear to have been eccentric
and the stuff of what legends and romance are made. The 4th baronet, Sir
Godfrey Webster, married Elizabeth Vassall, the daughter of a wealthy Jamaica
plantation owner. The couple already had two children, a boy (Godfrey, 5th
Baronet) and a girl (Harriet), when their mother, Elizabeth, ran off with the
3rd
Lord Holland, whom she met in Italy while the
Websters and Holland were on extended Grand Tours. Lord Holland and Lady Webster
lived together for some time and had their first son, Charles, before Webster
divorced her.

The son of the first Viscount
Exmouth, the Hon. Sir Fleetwood Broughton
Reynolds Pellew, Knight Commander of the Bath and an admiral, born 13 December
1789, married on 5 June 1816 Harriet
Webster only daughter of Sir Godfrey
Webster, 4th Baronet, of Battle Abbey,
Sussex, by his wife
Elizabeth Vassall.
Harriet died in Florence, Italy, 7 August 1849. Harriet's father was much addicted to Florence and probably
introduced his daughter to the city. It is presumed that the other child of
Sir Godfrey and Elizabeth was his son and heir, another Godfrey. Harriet's
daughter, Harriet
Pellew, married
Horatio Walpole the fourth
Earl of Orford and
a descendant of the first earl, the great English parliamentarian Robert
Walpole who was prime minister for over 20 years.

Sir Godfrey Webster, 4th Baronet (1748-1800) was known in his day as a grand tourist. His
portrait by Louis Gauffier (1762-1801), a French artist little
represented in English collections, was recently on temporary show at Kenwood
House having been purchased by English Heritage. The painting will be returned
to Battle Abbey, which English Heritage are in the process of refurbishing. It
is one of 22 portraits to be returned to Battle. The Gauffier portrait depicts
Sir Godfrey in Florence.

Lady Elizabeth (Vassall) Webster was 23 when she left Sir Godfrey and ran away
with 20 year-old Lord
Holland. The birth of
Charles out of wedlock added to
Elizabeth's notoriety and the Holland's were forced to live abroad for several
years. Some time between 1800 and 1805, Elizabeth saw her first dahlias in
Spain and sent some home. She is generally credited with being the person who
introduced the Mexican flower into England. After the couple had been married
for twenty years Lord Holland wrote a poem to Elizabeth.

The Dahlia you brought to our isle
Your praises for ever shall speak:
Mid gardens as sweet as your smile,
And colour as bright as your cheek.

Sir Godfrey Webster gave his name to a ship, which made several trips to
Australia bearing convicts. Convicts when marrying would cite the name of the
ship on which they were transported so Sir Godfrey's name lives on in many
Australians' ancestry.

The (presumed) 5th baronet was as eccentric or notorious as his (presumed)
mother. He had an affair in 1809 with Lady Caroline
Lamb, wife of William who
became the second Viscount Melbourne and who was appointed
prime minister in
1834. Caroline Lamb's mother-in-law Lady Melbourne, the famous hostess,
wrote a letter on 13 April 1810 scolding Lady Caroline for her
"disgraceful" and "disgusting" behaviour and warning her
that "when anyone braves the opinion of the World, sooner or later they
will feel the consequences of it". Lady Caroline was later to have an
affair with poet Lord
Byron. [Caroline Lamb definitely had the affair with Sir
Godfrey but, based on his mother's age upon leaving home and his father's
death in 1800, he could have been barely 18 or so when the relationship
occurred.]

Sir Godfrey owned property in various parts of Sussex and had his followers.
On 1st March 1820 John Barton spoke at the Dolphin Inn, Chichester in favour
of "the Radical" Sir Godfrey Webster. Hastings had developed into a
major fishing port and was increasingly popular with the middle classes. Land
was very much at premium and the near derelict Ropewalk provided perfect
lodgings for the growing numbers of workers (and those providing for their
needs and requirements) employed on the various construction projects in hand.
By 1822 it was estimated that more than 1,000 souls had acquired ramshackle,
incommodious but rate-free accommodation on the shingle bank, guaranteed to
provoke the great and the good on the Borough Council. A few half-hearted
attempts were made to impose official control and the immediate response to
this was the American flag (a contemporary symbol of freedom) being run up in
defiance. And so the America Ground was born.

The America Ground was an organized community supplying most if not all of its
own needs. Lodging houses were a major industry as was pig keeping, in fact
these two appear to be the main sources of activity, dominating all others.
These others included warehousing for tallow, rope and coal. Lime-kilns were
present as were a sawing house, stonemasons and a tallow factory, multiple
piggeries, a slaughterhouse and butchers. There was a gin palace and, perhaps
surprisingly, a school.

The first signs of trouble began when it was found that no title deeds existed
to enable the sale of property on the America Ground and the matter was
referred to the Crown Authorities. And in turn the query was passed on to the
Commissioners for Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. An inquisition was called
for and eventually four claimants appeared on the scene, Lord Cornwallis,
holder of the Priory Estate, the Earl of Chichester [one of the Pelhams],
Hastings Corporation and Sir Godfrey Webster on behalf of Battle Abbey
Estates. On the 6th of December 1827, five commissioners and twelve jurymen
met at the George Hotel at Battle and quickly decided that the lands should be
seized on behalf of the King. There is no record of the residents of the
America Ground being consulted or even referred to.

Sir Godfrey's widow Charlotte was living in Battle Abbey in 1841 and
1851 when the censuses were taken. This lady is presumed to be widow of the
5th baronet but most if not all were named Godfrey. She was particularly
generous to the village of Netherfield, a place that was first mentioned in
the Domesday book and which is located between Battle and Brightling.
Netherling had no church or school for hundreds of years until a parish church
was built and dedicated in 1860, a gift to the village by Lady Webster in
memory of her husband, Sir Godfrey. Services were held in the barn of a
local farm before the church was built. It was designed by Samuel Sanders
Teulon, a controversial Victorian architect, who also designed the Holy
Trinity Church in Hastings. The church is dedicated to St John the
Baptist.
The old schoolhouse adjoining the churchyard was also given by Lady Webster,
in 1859. The school closed in 1961.

The Websters

Thomas Webster (1677-1751) was created a baronet in return for donating
£1095 to the garrison of Ulster. He acquired Battle Abbey in 1721 from Viscount Montague.

He was succeeded in 1751 by his eldest son, Whistler Webster,
2nd baronet (son of Thomas Webster and
Jane Cheek). Jane inherited her grandfather Henry Whistler's vast estates in
1719. Sir Whistler Webster did not have the some love for the Battle estate as
his father. In 1766 at the age of 58 Whistler married Martha, daughter of Dr
Nairn, dean of Battle. Martha was 21 years younger. They had no children and the
3rd baronet was Godfrey who succeeded in 1779 on Whistler's death. Godfrey was
baronet for only six months and his eldest son succeeded him as 4th baronet
in 1780.

Sir Godfrey, 4th baronet,
inherited vast debts caused by marriage settlements and/or the
wills of Sir Whistler and Sir Godfrey, his uncle and father. His financial
position was vastly improved by his marriage to Elizabeth
Vassall, daughter of Richard
Vassall of Jamaica. Godfrey was 40 when they married and Elizabeth only 15. Dame
Martha, Whistler's widow, was still living at Battle Abbey and forced the couple
to live in a small house on an opposite hill.

Sir Godfrey and Lady Elizabeth departed for the Continent. Lady Webster
later met and eloped with Henry Fox, 3rd Lord Holland and Sir Godfrey obtained
a divorce by Act of Parliament in 1796. Under the terms of the divorce he was
entitled to the whole of Elizabeth's fortune during their life together and was
made sole guardian of their children. In 1800, he took his own life.

The 5th baronet, Sir Godfrey, was the eldest son of the fourth and was
only ten when he succeeded. His guardians were his grandmother and his aunt,
Elizabeth Chaplin. He succeeded to the estate in 1810 when he was 21 and Battle
Abbey was in a ruinous state thanks to 31 years of neglect by Sir Whistler's
widow. Sir Godfrey spent large amounts on restoration and on his political
activities. He was part owner of several racehorses and built a luxury yacht.
His marriage in 1814 to Charlotte, daughter of Robert Adamson of Ireland, did
very little to help his financial situation and it was not a happy union. Sir
Godfrey retired to the Continent in 1819 to escape his creditors.

When he died in 1836, his personal finances were insufficient to discharge
the hotel account, his medical bills and his servants' wages.

The 6th baronet
was his eldest son Godfrey Vassall. Godfrey was a navy officer and had served at
the siege of Acre. From 1840 onwards Godfrey's brothers were pressing for their
portions of the estate. Godfrey married a rich heiress, daughter of William
Murray, a large plantation owner in Jamaica, and granddaughter of Samuel Virgin
who held extensive estates in both England and Jamaica. She was the widow of the
younger son of the Earl of Ashburnham. The couple married in 1851 and Sir
Godfrey died in 1853.

Godfrey having no issue, the title passed to brother Augustus.

Augustus, 6th baronet,
was
a professional navy officer. He was still bedevilled by debt and had to pay the
balance of his brother Guy's fortune and mortgages to his mother and
sister-in-law. His younger brother Frederick acted as agent and receiver of
rents. In 1857 the remainder of Battle Abbey estates were sold to Harry Vane,
later Duke of Cleveland. In 1862 Augustus married Amelia Sophia Prosser
Hastings, daughter of Charles Prosser Hastings of Taunton. He died in 1886.

The 7th baronet was another Augustus, the
6th baronet's eldest son.
He was in the Grenadier Guards (1884-1894). In 1895 he married a rich heiress,
Mabel, a member of the famous Yorkshire Crossley carpet manufacturers. In 1901
the Duchess of Cleveland died and her nephew offered to sell Battle Abbey back
to the Websters. Sir Augustus paid £200,000 for over 6,000 acres including
estates at Battle, Ewhurst, Northiam and Romney. Battle Abbey was let to Michael
Grace and the Websters lived at Powdermill House.

Godfrey, son of Sir Augustus, died in the 1914-18 War while serving with
the Grenadier Guards. Augustus died in 1923 and the estate passed to his
daughter Lucy. The Abbey itself was let to a girls' private school. The
baronetcy expired with the death of Augustus.

[Family history courtesy of Christopher Whittick of East Sussex Record
Office.]

Sir Godfrey Webster (4th Baronet)

Sir Whistler Webster,
2nd baronet, married in 1766, at the age of 58,
Martha the daughter of Dr Nairn, Dean of Battle, who was some 21 years younger
than him (BAT 1131). There were no children of the marriage, so the baronetcy
passed to Whistler's brother Godfrey on his death in 1779 (BAT 1330, WHL 108).
Godfrey had married Elizabeth, daughter of John Gilbert Cooper of Lockington in
Derbyshire and Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire, and had six children. Godfrey,
however, died in 1780 (BAT 1331) only 6 months after succeeding to the baronetcy
and the title passed to his eldest son, another Godfrey.

Sir Godfrey, 4th baronet who was born about 1749, inherited an
estate, large but encumbered with various rent charges and payments provided for
either by marriage settlement or under the wills of Sir Whistler 2nd baronet or
Sir Godfrey 3rd baronet. Presumably to help pay off some of these debts Sir
Godfrey sold the East Grinstead estate: eight houses six burgages and some 450
acres in East Grinstead in 1781 (AMS 350), cottages and 22 acres at Worth in
1782 (AMS 233), and the Manor of Pickstones in East Grinstead and Worth in 1786
(WHL 117). He seems to have sold the last part of his East Grinstead property
about 1800 (land tax assessments for East Grinstead). He did, however, extend
his Fairlight property by his purchase of Fairlight Downs (128 acres) (BAT 2610)
and his financial situation was greatly improved by his marriage in 1786 to
Elizabeth sole heiress of Richard Vassall of Jamaica, heir of Florentius Vassall
whose estates included the Friendship, Greenwich and Sweet River Plantations in
Jamaica as well as New England property (BAT 1133). The marriage was not a happy
one: Elizabeth was only 15, Godfrey being 25 years older than her. Battle Abbey
was subject to an estate for the life of Dame Martha, Whistler's widow and she
in fact remained in possession forcing the young couple to live in a small
house, on the opposite hill, called Rose Green (Duchess of Cleveland 210; Lord
Torrington states in 1788 that Sir Godfrey was longing to succeed the old lady
so that he could pull down the already ruinous abbey (C Bruyn Andrews (ed) The
Torrington Diaries 121)). It seems that relations with the Dowager were never
good: in 1797 she took Sir Godfrey to court for taking down the roof of the
Courthall in Battle and using the materials for his own purpose (SNQ 13 198).

Sir Godfrey and his wife spent several years on the Continent (letters
from Thomas Pelham to Lord Sheffield, 1791-1793, include references to the
couple's activities on the Continent (AMS 5440); see also Lady Webster's
correspondence amongst the Holland House MSS in the British Library) and it was
there that Lady Webster met and later eloped with Henry Fox, 3rd Lord Holland
(Duchess of Cleveland 210-211). Sir Godfrey obtained a divorce by Act of
Parliament in 1796, (BAT 1145) under which he received £6,000 damages from Lord
Holland and secured for himself the whole of her fortune, about £10,000 a year,
during their joint lives, leaving her only £800 (L B Behrens Battle under 39
Kings; a newspaper cutting states that it was £7,000 rather than £10,000 (BAT
4880)). He was also made sole guardian of his children. In 1797 he discontinued
the surname Vassall which he had assumed in 1795 as a condition of Richard
Vassall's will.

In political affairs Sir Godfrey carried on the Webster tradition of
Whig opposition. He was very active in the reform movement in Sussex and
introduced a petition for parliamentary reform in 1783. Two years later,
however, he opposed Pitt's Parliamentary reform proposals as inadequate (Namier
and Brook). In 1784 he unsuccessfully contested Hastings (T W Horsfield History
of Sussex 2 61) and in 1785 stood at Seaford (T W Horsfield History of Sussex 2
69-70) in the interest of Lord Pelham. He was defeated but the election was
declared void. In 1786 when he was again defeated he was seated on petition. He
remained Member for Seaford until 1790 and for Wareham in Dorset from 1796 until
1800, when after a period in which his mind was troubled, he took his own life
(BAT 4880).

[Information supplied by Christopher Whittick of East Sussex Record
Office.]